Croatia to investigate on secret accounts in HSBC

Croatia is going to investigate the secret accounts opened in British bank HSBC from the country, after the bank admitted its Swiss branch help clients dodge taxes, Croatian daily Jutarnji list reported on Tuesday.

The Croatian Finance Ministry has requested the state's tax administration and its anti-money laundering office to investigate the issue, saying it will also cooperate with financial institutions abroad to deal with the case.

Gordan Maras, Croatian minister for entrepreneurship and trade, said the government will find out if the clients indeed evaded paying taxes and if their money was earned illegally.

Orsat Miljenic, Croatian justice minister, told Croatian electronic media Index that all clients who potentially evaded taxes, will have to repay their taxes and some will possibly be prosecuted for their tax evasion.

The Swiss division of British-led HSBC helped clients in more than 200 countries and regions evade hundreds of millions of dollars in tax between 1998 and 2007, leaked secret documents concerning HSBC activities revealed.

Some 40 currently anonymous clients from Croatia have 77 accounts in the bank, where some 33.2 million dollars are deposited, according to the documents.

Among the 77 account owners there are "a restaurant owner, a movie producer, a football player, a tennis official, and an entrepreneur" according to the documents. Endit